Seamless hosiery knitting machine



y 1949- J. c. WILLIAMS ET'AL 2,474,925

I SEAMLESS HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 10, 1947 [0/ I 96 INVENTOR LAWRENCE w.GoTT$cHALcK m 99 AND 'JABP'IESQWILLIAMS 94 94 W I 96 ATTORNEY July 5, 1949. J. -c. WILLIAMS EI'AL 2,474,925

SEAMLESS HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINE v Filed April 10. 1947 Y ZSheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LAWRENCE \MQOTTSCHALCK AND JAMES c, WILLIAMS WMMMM ATTORNEY Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEAMLESS'HOSIERY KNITTING MACHINE James C. Williams, York, Pa., and Lawrence W; Gottschalck, New York,,N. Y.; said Williams assignor to said Gottschalck Application April 10, 1947, S'erial'No; 740,592

13 Claims. 1

This invention relatesto knitting machines and particularly to machines for knitting seamless hosiery. Various changes have been made in such machines thru' the yearsvbut none of them have been adapted to produce seamless hosiery which fits as well in theankle and instep as does fashioned hosiery. The copending application of Lawrence W. Gottschalck, Serial No. 733,741, filed March 11, 1947, isdirected to. improvements in seamless hosiery and-methcdsand mechanisms for the production thereof whereby the difficulties in commonplace seamless hosiery are overcome. It is an object of the present invention to provide a particularly effective and: simple type of such mechanism, and one that can be used in a standard seamless hosiery machine-with a minimum of alteration of the basic elements. thereof. Another object is to provide a: type of mechanism which is adapted to produce hosiery in a variety of shapes adapted to particularly shaped feet and to the particular contours of feet when used with various types of shoes;

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations. of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding. of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed descriptionxtakenin connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is aside elevation partly in section and partly broken away of one. form of machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower portion thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view along the line 3-3 of Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a portion of the pattern chain.

The invention is exemplified. as embodied in a. standard Scott 8a. Williams seamless hosiery machine of the basic type disclosed inthe Scott et a1. Patent 1,569,632 and the patents referred to therein.

The exemplified form of construction comprises aneedle cylinder II] which may be supported similarly to the needle cylinder 260 of said Scott et a1. Patent 1,569,632 on a columnl-2 corresponding to column. 280 of saidpa-tent. The column is supported by members [4, I5, l6, l1, and i8 corresponding to. the members 281,. a, 286-, 281, and 2810 of saidpatent;v the lever l1 being pivoted at l9, and the extension l8 carrying an adjusta-ble bearing-screw 20 which rides on the surface of an annular cam 2 I.

The surface of the cam 2| comprises a sharp rise 22, a gradually-declining surface 23, and a flat surface 24. The cam is driven by a rack wheel 26' to: which it is integrally connected, and on the side thereof opposite-the rack wheel there is carried a supplemental cam portion 30 which is adjustably mounted by means of screws 31 extending thruslots 32 in the supplemental cam. The arm I8 carries additionally a screw 33 on a lug 34 which is positioned above the surface of the supplemental cam 30. Thus as cam 2| rotates, the supplemental cam portion 30 will in due course contact the screw 33, thus raising the screw 20 above the fiat portion 24 of the cam 21 and imparting to the lever l1 and the cylinder l0 anoperation similar-to that of a variable-surface cam. The cam 30 is not only adjustable for positioning, but is replaceable by cams of different contour as may be desired;

The ratchet 26" is operated by a-pawl 35 carried by a reciprocating lever 36 pivotally mounted at 31 to a rocking arm 38 corresponding to the-arm S of said Patent 1,569,632 and mounted and op.- erated similarly thereto; The pawl is pulled toward-therack by a spring 39 which also serves to keep arm 38 in constant contact with cam shaft 40. A peripheral portion of wheel 26 is cut away to provide an arcuate recess 40a, and along this recess there is drilled a. series of holes 4| in a selected two of which idler plates 42 and 43 are secured, these being set in the recess 40a so as to pass under the friction arm fork 44, which corresponds to Eof the Scott et a1. Patent 1,569,- 632. The idlers extenda sufficient distance radially andarcuately'so as to bridge a tooth and idle the pawl 35 whenevereither of themtis brought in line with it. The wheel 26 is also provided with usual idling, space 14.

As in the Scott et al. Patent 1,569,632 there is provided a pattern cam shaft and aspring blade or bevel 15' (0 in said patent) operating a pin 16 (0 in said patent) on the side face of cam 2| (0). From a lug 8|: on the hub 82 of the drum driving gear on pattern cam shaft 80, a finger 83 depends. There is also provided a pattern chain 85 (as in Scott Patent 1,152,850), and positioned at the side. of the chain and in the path of side lugs on certain. of the links thereof is the head 86' of operating rod. lever 81 equipped with a spring 88 and carrying a link 89. A pawl 90 is connected by an arm 91 to the link 89 so that when a side lug on the chain- 85 moves the head 3 85 to the right (Fig. 2) the pawl will move to the left and (ordinarily) into operative contact with a tooth of the wheel 26 to move an idler plate out of operative position.

The pattern chain 85 as in standard practice is composed of a variety of types of links including a link 92 (Fig. 4) for starting the general movement of the stitch graduating mechanism exemplified in the Scott et al. Patent 1,569,632. Following link 92 there are provided plain links 94 in Whatever number needed to make the desired number of courses from the time the stitch tightening is started at the calf of the stocking by link 92 until the cylinder is off the cam 2| to give the desired maximum tightness of the ankle plus the number of plain links for the length of ankle fabric where uniformly maximum tightness is wanted. At the conclusion of the plain links there is a link 95 having a side lug 96 adapted to actuate lever 81. Among the heel pocket links is link 9'! having a side lug 96 and also link 98 with a side lug 99 slightly differentl situated. After link 95 there are inserted plain links 94 in the number needed to allow screw 33 to climb the crest of cam 30 to the maximum slackening point (which will coincide with the arrival of idler 43 at pawl 35) plus the number needed, if desired, to provide the required number of rows of maximum slackness before the heel pocket. Succeeding these plain links are the group of links controlling the heel pocket knitting and including the links 91 and 98 previously mentioned. The knitting of the heel pocket is concluded with link I06 followed by plain links 94 which are present in whatever number needed, if desired, to provide the required number of rows of maximum slackness directly after the heel pocket. Link |9| with a side lug 96, adapted, like the lug 96 on link 95 to again actuate lever 81, follows.

Extending laterally of the pawl 9| into the path of finger 83 is a pin by contact with which finger 83 can render pawl 9| inoperative.

As explained in said Patent 1,569,632, the movement of the blade 15 starts the racking of rack wheel 26 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 2). Pawl 35 engages the teeth of wheel 26 after the rotating blade 15 contacts the pin 76 to move the clear space 74 past the pawl 35, so that the pawl will contact the teeth of wheel 26 to start the stitch tightening at the calf of the stocking. The clockwise racking of wheel 26 continues with the stitch gradually tightening until the pawl reaches the idler plate 42. Pawl 35 idles on 42 until enough ankle fabric has been knit with the maximum tightness stitch, as desired. Thereupon the lug 96 on the chain link 95 contacts the upper end 86 of the operating rod lever 8'! and turns it to the right as the lug passes, causing arm 9| and pawl 99 to move to the left to turn wheel 26 clockwise just enough to get idler 42 out of its idling position so that pawl 35 may again rack the rack wheel 26.

The screw 29 and the cylinder will have dropped to their lowest position to knit the tightest stitch before idler-42 has reached pawl 35. The position of cam 39 on the face of cam 2| is such that it is ready to start raising the screw 33 as soon as pawl 35 starts to rack the teeth of wheel 26 after leaving the idler 42. As screw 33 rises on cam 36, the cylinder is raised slowly to knit an increasingly slack stitch. Pawl 35 racks the wheel 26 until pawl 35 is again idled on idler 43. The idlers 42 and 43 are so positioned that the number of teeth in the section between them corresponds with the circumferential distance the cam 39 travels under the screw 33 to bring the screw to the crest of the cam. Pawl 35 remains on idler 43 for a distance corresponding to the number of rows of maximum slack fabric that may be wanted in the body fabric preceding the heel, during the knitting of the heel, and for any distance the'maximum slack body fabric may be wanted in the foot after the heel.

During the time that pawl 35 is on idler 43 the pattern drum racks into the heel knitting, during which two chain links with side lugs or kicks similar to that on link 95 contact the top 86 of the operating lever 81 at the shoe plate and cause it to turn to the right. Ordinarily this would cause pawl to turn the rack wheel to move the idler out of position so that rack wheel would then be racked by pawl 35. To avoid this taking place, finger 83 is screwed on the hub 82 of the drum-driving gear. This finger is of sufficient length to extend slightly beyond the tooth circle of rack wheel, and the short pin 0 extends horizontally into the path of finger 83 as it turns with the hub 82. At the time of the heel pocket knitting, finger 83 points in the general direction of the tooth end of pawl 90 and is pressing downward on the pin H9. As a result, when the side kick links (as 97 and 98) in the heel knitting pass the operating rod lever shoe plate and thru its connections cause pawl 90 to move to the left, the pawl tooth is too low to engage any teeth of the rack wheel 26 in the short pawl movement that occurs. On coming out of the heel knitting, shaft 86 turns clockwise sufficiently to move finger 83 beyond pin H0. Hence, when the lug 93 on side kick chain link contacts the operating rod lever shoe plate to move pawl 96 to the left, there is nothing to prevent pawl 96 from engaging the teeth of the rack wheel 26 to move idler plate 43 beyond pawl 35 to permit pawl 35 to rack the wheel 26 clockwise to again gradually tighten the stitch to its maximum tightness.

The use of two stitch adjusting screws 33 and 20 on arm 8 gives an independent control of the stitch tension in the instep by means of screw 33 entirely apart from the leg tension screw 20'. Therefore the adjustment of the stitch tension in this part of the stocking may be accomplished without varying the normal stitch tension in the adjacent portions. This definite advantage would not accrue if supplementary cam 30 was made to overlap the bearing surface of cam 2| to permit the use of only one screw 20 to ride on the periphery of cam 30 as well as cam 2|.

It will be noted that under the chain control method of actuating the lower ankle and instep fashioning, the side kick links for starting the movement may be located in the chain as desired, with corresponding settings of idlers 42 and 43, the use of extra idlers and extra side kick links 95, plus proper location of cam 30 in various shapes, to give varying lengths and degrees of slack fabric before the heel pocket and after it, according to requirements to be met. In particular unusual variations in the location of the rows of sustained slack stitches or sustained tight stitches. as well as their frequency of occurrence, before and after the heel pocket, may be accomplished by variations in the number of idling plates employed to keep pawl 35 out of action, in the outline of cam 30, and in the arrangement of plain chain links 94 and side kick chain links such as 95 and NH.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of *the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is particularly to be noted that while the invention has been exemplified as embodied in a modern Scott 8: Williams spiral gussetoe machine (model K step) equipped with contour heel, the invention is limited neither to any particular model of Scott & Williams machine nor to machines of the Scott 8a Williams type, but is generally applicable to those circular hosiery machines which knit both leg and foot portion of a stocking.

We claim:

1. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, a loop-varying cam, a ratchet for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said ratchet, means on the ratchet to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth of said ratchet and render said pawl inelfective when it reaches the same, a supplemental pawl arranged to engage said ratchet to bring said bridging means past the first mentioned pawl at a predetermined later stage in the operation of said machine, and pattern means to operate said supplemental pawl.

2. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, a loop-varying cam, toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means adjustably mounted on the toothed means to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth and render said pawl ineiiective when it reaches the same, additional means to move said toothed means to bring said bridging means past said pawl at a predetermined later stage in the operation of said machine, means for forming a heel pocket, selector means for determining the point of formation of said heel pocket, and means on said selector means for operating said additional means.

3. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, a loop-varying cam, toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means on the toothed means to bridge the distance between each of a plurality of pairs of spaced teeth and render said pawl ineiIective when it reaches the same, additional means to move said toothed means at predetermined stages of operation of the machine to bring the successive bridging means beyond said pawl, means for forming a heel pocket, selector means for determining the point of formation of said heel lpocket, and means on said selector means for operating said additional means.

4. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, means for varyin the length of loops knitted at various stages of the operation of the machine and including cam means having a. surface sloping in one direction for decreasing the size of loops, a second surface sloping in the opposite direction for increasing the size of loops, and a third surface sloping in the first-mentioned direction for increasing the size of loops, toothed means for driving said cam, said cam and said toothed means having a predetermined ratio oi movement, a pawl for operating said toothed means, the operative teeth on said toothed means being arranged in groups corresponding to the slopes on said cam, and said toothed means having spacing means between the groups of teeth, and additional means to move said toothed means at predetermined stages in the operation of said machine to bring said spacing means past said pawl to enable said pawl to engage and operate the latter groups of teeth thereon at desired points in the knitting of a stocking.

5. In a circular hosiery machine, in combina- 5 tion, a loop-varying cam, toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means on the toothed means to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth and render said pawl ineffective when it reaches the same, additional means to move said toothed means to bring said bridging means past said pawl at a predetermined later stage in the operation of said machine, means for forming a heel pocket, selector means for determining the point of formation of said heel pocket, and means on said selector means for operating said additional means.

6. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, a loop-varying cam, toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means on the toothed means to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth and render said pawl ineffective when it reaches the same, additional means to move said toothed means to bring said bridging means past said pawl at a pre- 5 determined later stage in the operation of said machine, means for forming a heel pocket, selector means for determining the point of formation of said heelipocket, means on said selector means for operating said additional means and means to prevent the heel-forming actuating means from operating said additional means.

7. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, a loop-varying cam, toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means on the toothed means to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth and render said pawl inefiective when it reaches the same, additional means to move said toothed means to bring said bridging means past said pawl at a predetermined later stage in the operation of said machine, a pattern chain, heel-pocket forming means, means on said pattern chain for actuating said heel-pocket forming means, means on said pattern chain for actuating said additional means at said predetermined stage, and means for preventing the actuation of said additional means when the chain is in a heel-pocket-forming position.

8. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, means to vary the length of loops at various stages in the knitting of a stocking, an annular cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental two-way-slope cam member mounted at another portion of the periphery of said cam, and tracking means controlled by said cam and said cam member for operating said loop-varying means.

9. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, means to vary the length of loops at various stages in the knitting of a stocking, an annular cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental two-Way-slope cam member adjustably mounted at another portion of the periphery of said cam, and tracking means controlled by said cam and said cam member for operating said loop-varying means.

10. In a circular hosiery machine, in combination, means to vary the length of loops at various stages in the knitting of a stocking, an annular 7 cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental two-way-slope cam member replaceably mounted at another portion of the periphery of said cam, and tracking means controlled by said cam and said cam member for operating said loop-varying means.

{511. Ina circular hosiery machine, in combination, means to vary the length of loops at various stages in the knitting of a stocking, an annular cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental tWo-way-slope cam member mounted adjustably at another portion of the-periphery of said cam, and tracking means controlled by said eam'and said cam member for operating said loop-varying means.

12. In a'circular hosiery machine, in combina* tion, means to vary the length of loops at various stages in the knitting of a stocking, an annular cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental two-Way-slope cam member mounted at another portion of the periphery of said cam, said sloping portion of said cam and said cam member being mounted in parallel planes, said loop-varying means including a, tracking' member, and independent follower elements on said tracking member for following said cam and cam member respectively, at least one ofsaid independent elements being adjustable, andsaid tracking member being arranged to be actuated by the contact of any one of said independent elements with any of said slopes whereby the loop-varying means will be regulated in accordance with a sloping portion of said cam at one period of its operation and by said cam member at another period of its operation.

a 13. In a circular hosiery machine, in combina- 30 tion, an annular loop-varylng cam having a slope thruout only a portion of its periphery, a supplemental two-way-slope cam member :mounted at another portion of the periphery ofsaid cam. toothed means for driving said cam, a pawl for operating said toothed means, means on the toothed means to bridge the distance between two spaced teeth and render said pawl ineffective when it reaches the some, additional means to move said toothed means to bring said bridging means past said pawl at a predetermined later stage in the operation of said machine, and a tracking element controlled by said cam at one period of the cam movement and by said cam member at another period of said cam movement.

JAMES C. WILLIAMS.

LAWRENCE W. GOTTSCHALCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following referemces are of record in the file of this patent: 

